Though my two-year-old is pretty good at entertaining herself, hours of unstructured play can get old—for both of us. The problem, of course, is activities can get expensive. The Georgia Aquarium opened amid great fanfare a couple years ago in Atlanta, where I live. The cost for one adult ticket? Twenty-four dollars. Plus, I’d have to pay to park downtown. That’s fine for a treat, but I am always on the hunt for a free activity. Here are five of my favorites. If you’ve got ideas, please share!
Make a collage.
This is a great standby. Get out old magazines, a pair of kids’ scissors, glue, and construction paper. Let your child cut out pictures and glue them to the paper. To add variety, come up with a theme. Hunt for pictures of food for a dinner collage or do an animal collage. Got any old parenting magazines lying around? Kids love to find pictures of other children. Another variation of this: cut up scraps of wrapping paper for a rainbow collage. When my daughter and I did this recently, we used blue tissue paper, red shiny wrapping paper, and other colors and textures. She loved it!
Go the library.
Story times are fun, of course, but even if there aren’t scheduled activities, just going to the library can be a great outing. I let my daughter pick out a pile of books, and we find a quiet corner so I can read them to her. After we are finished, she gets to pick out three to take home.
Go to a new park.
If you and your child need a change from the playground in your neighborhood, check out another public park. A different slide and jungle gym can be exciting for a toddler.
Go to a construction site.
Any new houses or buildings under construction in your area? How about a renovation? Make sure you are a safe distance from the action, and then find a nice place to sit. Kids are fascinated watching construction workers hammer, drill, and dump dirt.
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